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Summary: Great book!
Review: I have read this book over and over again, and it's great everytime. I'm no businessperson, but I understood every word because Bethune's easy to understand anecdotes made the book an enjoyable and understandable experience. I highly recommend this book to any airline enthusiast!
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Summary: A good book by a first time writer
Review: I really like this book. It is very informative and deals with the state of Continental at the time of the turn around. As an employee at the time, we were not told much about what was happening. Gordon and Greg used common sense to make Continental what it is today. I have met and talked to Gordon, and he talks to employees the same way that he wrote the book. While it doesn't give detaliled specifics on what he did and how he did it, this book gives a general overview of what was done to make the employees happy, and in turn make the airline the success that it has become. To those who say the book is repetitive, get over it. There isn't much to say except Continental was bad, and now people are competing to fill open positions. Also Gordon has directed the publisher to direct any royalties that he was going to make to WE CARE, an internal employee emergency assistance fund.
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Summary: I liked the man better than I liked the book.
Review: I was very impressed with Gordon Bethune, but I felt the writing was too repetitive.
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Summary: A Refreshing Read, A Must for All Turnaround-Bound Companies
Review: I've personally endured Continental's problems in the early Nineties as a student coming back from college in Northern California to Guam every year. The total apathy was prevalent in every employee's facial expressions! Continental to me was the anthithesis of customer service. Incredibly, I have noticed the flip-flop changes during my recent flights on Continental -- via Continental Micronesia, an incredibly-together subsidiary based in Micronesia.With easy, repeated themes throughout the book that boil down to the four basic ideas of Market, Finance, Product and Employees, Bethune weaves an incredible but credible story of probably one of the greatest turnarounds in history. His personal biographical information dotted through the book adds tangible, real-life lessons that seamlessly match up to his deep but simple philosophy of today's Continental. I'm getting a copy to each of my senior managers. Hold off on the buzz-word-laden academic books. Buy the book and read it, at least a few times.
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Summary: The best practicle business book I have ever read.
Review: If your company makes the same mistakes over and over - read this book!! If your employees aren't motivated to do their absolute best - read this book!! From Worst To First is easy to read and full of basic, common sense ideas that you don't find in many of our corporate board rooms. Gordan Bethune is someone we would all like to work for.
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Summary: Simple but great
Review: In a simple way, excellent ideas that could be useful for any company.
Due to the book you will be interested in Continentals and Bethune next steps
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Summary: Strong Management / Business Redesign Book
Review: In From Worst to First Continental CEO Gordon Bethune discusses how he and his team turned around Continental Airlines (then on the verge of bankruptcy) and produced the profitable, customer-friendly airline that Continental is today. The book is a good read, filled with numerous examples. Bethune takes the reader through the process that occurred at Continental and comments extensively on how the techniques that he applied could be applied to other businesses. However, Bethune neglects, in many cases to explain the thought process behind the decision that he made. In some cases this is expected: most readers will obviously know that a business needs capital to operate. In others, such as some of his less generally-accepted employee relations techniques, he explains only what he did not why he did it. Because of this, the book is more of a "how to" than a case study on Continental. Also of note, this book primarily deals with a turn-around situation, and while some of the techniques presented are clearly applicable in any business, others deal specifically with a business that is well established and experiencing difficulty. Other techniques deal primarily with large organizations, and may be of only minimal use to an executive at a smaller company. Over all From Worst to First is a good read, and the information and techniques provided will well justify the time spent reading it!
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Summary: It's a very simple book...but maybe that's the point.
Review: Mr Bethune and his ghost-writer follow the oldest training guide: "1. Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, 2. Tell 'em, 3. Tell 'em what you told 'em." So it can seem repetitive at times. And, it can certainly seem simplistic (I suppose it could even seem painful if you're an MBA). However, if you step back and think about it, "simple" may just be the message. Not that the job of managing an airline isn't complex. But the solutions to problems can be so complex as to get in their own way. So, if you stay with it and pick out the pearls, you can have a nice simple list of management prescriptions. Simple in their statement, but often difficult in their execution. Which is probably where Bethune is different. He didn't just talk about, he did it.
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Summary: Yes, great things are simple - very useful book!
Review: Nice of Mr. Bethune to find time to share his success with others. After being in airline business for sometime (working for competitor), find it very honest and helpful resource. Yes, if you want to save an airline (or any other company), you don't have to be Ph.D in management - recipe is simple - be honest with employees, take care of your clients, do thing that makes sense. There is no magic formula. The key is - be committed to the change, don't let politics change your decisions.
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Summary: Helpful not only for Airline Insustry
Review: The content of the book is applied not only to the airline industry but to other industry like banking I am working for. (1) Customer: Most Important/ Try to offer what customers want. Stop the service customers don't want. (2) Employee: Secondary Most Important/ Think of employees. They do serveice to customers. They know how we can enhance the service. Share the profit between the emplyee and the company(stock holder).
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